Absentee Ballots for Some U.S. Military May Have Been Destroyed in Plane Crash

Absentee ballots that were sent to some of the U.S. military serving in Afghanistan may have been burned in a plane crash at the Shindad Air Base on October 19, reports the Associated Press.

An official in the Federal Voting Assistance Program told the Associated Press that the plane crash resulted in the destruction of 4,700 pounds of mail, possibly including an unknown number of absentee ballots.

Federal officials told state election offices, via email, that they did not know for sure if any ballots were destroyed. They also said the lost mail was limited to one zip code.

Federal officials recommended that election officials resend a new ballot to anyone who requested one, but it is not known if that was carried out.

Back in May, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that President Obama had 44% of the military vote, while Mitt Romney had 37%.